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Hi again everybody.

I had a long sit down talk with mom Saturday afternoon. I did my best to explain my continued difficulties with accidents at school and how I think switching from Goodnites to real disposable diapers is a good idea.

She still resisted, but said if I was serious about needing extra protection at school I could start by wearing my night time cloth diapers and plastic panties during the day. I really didn't like that suggestion because of the hassle involved with changing at school and the difficulties in finding any clothes to fit over the thick diapers. We went back and forth for a while and finally came up with a compromise. I agreed to wear the cloth diapers to school if we could seriously discuss the disposable option with my doctor when I go for a check up on the 1st. I hope this will convince mom that I really do need the extra protection and am willing to suffer some discomfort and embarrassment in order to have it.

So I'm going to be wearing my night time cloth diapers and plastic panties to school for the next two and a half weeks. I still didn't have many clothes to fit over them or a way to carry extra clean diapers to school and wet ones home, but mom is resourceful and has a solution for everything. She went through some fabric left over in the back closet and spent all day Sunday sewing me several pleated knee length skirts. I've never been a huge fan of the "school girl" look but I have to admit these are kinda cute. She also had dad rummage around in the attic and find an old diaper bag from when I was a baby. I almost died when she said I could put my extra diapers, wipes, powder and stuff in there for school. Thankfully the thing doesn't look too terribly infantile, it's a quilted pale pink on the outside. Kinda looks like a big purse from a distance so I'm hoping I can get away with it. Mom called and spoke to my Principal so I can leave the bag in the teachers' lounge to have if I need to come in and change.

Well, that's the latest from me. I'm hoping the next two weeks go well and I don't end up regretting this move. Wish me luck!

Good luck, and I hope you don't encounter any trouble from your peers at school. It is upsetting to hear that your mom is not more understanding that you need a discrete option to wear to school. It is a sad thing when your own personal politics gets in the way of making a rational decision for your kids. I'm glad she made some new clothes for you to wear to keep them hidden, but, still...it seems a very round-about way to do things.

Hi Bethany,
I'm one of the moderators here. I've been away for a while and missed your post. Welcome to the board! Looks like you have already received a lot of help from our members.
I understand your Mom's concern with the enviroment by having you use cloth diapers at night, I do also. It really makes more since, though to use disposables during the daytime at school. Having to keep up with a diaper bag and storing soiled diapers to take home to get washed is a really big hassle. There's a great selection of disposables out there to choose from to almost give you all day protection. ......Paul Martin

Hi, again, Bethany. At some point, I hope your mother will allow you to at least try disposables during the day. Personally, I'd be more concerned about leaking or flooding while wearing a skirt than while wearing pants, but...

If you're embarrassed by the diaper bag, just for future reference, there are several brands of PUL plastic lined zippered pouches called wet bags available in all kinds of patterns and various sizes. Some brands have a loop handle of sort; some do not. They were originally meant to carry diapers and supplies, but really can be used for anything that might need some waterproof protection-- swimsuits, gym clothes, cosmetics, potentially messy food, etc. I have a couple small ones to keep my stuff organized and clean. If you are using cloth and plastic pants, you will need larger ones, but they are available. Two of the companies I know of are Planet Wise and Itsy Ritsy. It seems a lot of newer moms also make these out of their homes and sell them on eBay or Etsy as small businesses. There are usually many options, so I'm sure you could find a size and non-juvenile pattern that you like relatively inexpensively. Most of them that I've seen do not look like diaper bags to most people, just cool looking pouches, and some sizes will easily fit discreetly in a bookbag or backpack or locker. As far as traditional purse style diaper bags go, there are also more options than there used to be because more fathers are actively co-parenting, and some of them object to carrying something that looks stereotypically feminine or juvenile. Good luck.

Hi everyone, it's Bethany again.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks since I last posted on here, so I wanted to give everyone a quick update on things.

First off, wearing cloth diapers to school for two weeks wasn't a total nightmare. I was really nervous for the first couple of days but my friends were supportive and the kids who sometimes make fun of me didn't seem any harsher than usual. I did run into a problem when it came to cheer practice, as there was no way my uniform skirt could hide that thick cloth diaper. Coach let me work around it and wear my warmup pants instead. But I obviously can't keep doing that forever, so I had coach send a note home to mom about the issue, that cloth diapers are fine for practice but I should get some more discreet protection before participating in an actual cheer event again. Mom knows cheering means a lot to me, even though I'm not nearly as good at it as I was before the accident, so I think that helped me down the road to disposables. All in all I was glad for the extra protection. Going two weeks without having a major leakage problem from totally flooding a Goodnite was great, and I think I've gotten fairly good at changing quickly when I need to. I even managed it once in a tiny locker room stall before cheer practice started. In another positive mark towards disposables, mom mentioned last week how me wearing cloth diapers to school was adding up to a lot of extra laundry. She does all the washing and I think she realized that going the disposable route would save her some time.

Second, my doctor's appointment yesterday went pretty well. We talked for a while about how my condition is progressing and my desire for better protection while at school. My doctor seemed impressed that I had gone through with the cloth diaper thing, said it showed I was serious about what I wanted and not just messing around. She convinced mom to let me try disposables for school this month and we could meet again in March to see how things were going. That made me really happy.

Mom and I went to the big pharmacy beside the medical office after my appointment. I had never looked in there before but they do carry a lot of adult diapers. My doctor talked about trying different kinds to see what I liked and what I didn't, so we ended up getting a couple of various brands for me to test out. We got a pack of Depends, Two packs of Attends with wasitband, a pack of Tena Supers and two packs of Tranquility ATN. I also saw they had some things called diaper doublers, which look like a big pad with no backing. Apparently they go inside the diaper to add capacity so you can go a long time between changes. We got a pack of those too. It felt really weird pushing the big cart full of diapers up to the checkout counter, I think I was four shades of red from embarrassment, but the clerk was polite and professional.

So now I get to try all of these different diapers out. I cleared out some space in my closet and opened all the packs up last night. Boy these things take up a lot of space! I decided to start with the Depends, as they were the least expensive of the bunch. They are really thin, huge difference from the cloth diapers. So far they don't seem to hold much more than the Goodnites did, but the fit is secure and comfortable. I can actually fit into my jeans again, but the diaper waistband sticks up pretty high. Thankfully I've got a few longer flowing tops, but I may have to ask mom about getting some jeans that aren't so super low rise if all disposables are like this.

Well, I gotta go now. Will try to post another update later.

There is an outfit called Duluth Treading http://www.duluthtrading.com/ that has jeans with an extra crotch gusset in them. Mainly made for men so you manly parts don't get squeezed too much when you crouch. I've found that the extra room is great for a heavy diaper too. They also have shirts that are extra long so they cover the waist better. They have women's clothing too. Not cheap but I've found them to be worth the extra.
I wear a mans overnight pull up stuffed with a #6 baby diaper, inside an Abena M4. Then plastic pants and a pair of boxer briefs over it all. Then a long shirt untucked. So far no one has ever said a word about it if they ever noticed the bulges.

I wear Abena pull-ups and fold the waist down about two inches when necessary.

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Fred